TCDSB Policy Register

ATTENDANCE BOUNDARY POLICY   S.A.03

Policy 

The Director of Education may prepare a report for consideration by the Board identifying a school, or group of schools, facing programming challenges and/or facility limitations due to enrolment oversubscription or under subscription, and in respect of which there may be a need to consider and review the possible implementation of boundaries in respect of one or more of the identified schools. 

Regulations 

1.         An attendance boundary review shall be initiated by the Director of Education or Board staff through a submission of a formal request compliant with Board procedures, or through a recommendation by Board staff. 

2.         The Director of Education shall set limits on the total number of boundary reviews conducted per year dependant upon availability of appropriate staff resources, and reserves the right to prioritize the requests for reviews. 

3.          The Board reserves the right to aggregate individual requests for boundary reviews depending on the geographic location of the schools being considered for review. 

4.         Fixed attendance boundaries must employ an open, public consultative process similar to the process used in School Accommodation Review, whereby a boundary review committee (BRC) consisting of parents/guardians, educators and Board officials is established. 

The following people shall be invited to participate in the boundary review process: 

§     Trustee(s) whose schools are in the study

§     Superintendent(s) whose schools are in the study 

From each school affected: 

§     Principal or designate

§     One representative from the teaching staff

§     One representative from the non-teaching staff

§     One parent representative

§     One student representative (applies to secondary schools only) 

5.         The BRC will be deemed to be properly constituted whether or not all the listed members are willing and able to participate. 

6.          The Director shall appoint a Principal who does not represent the area under study as Chair of the BRC. 

7.          The School Superintendent(s) or delegate(s) shall function as secretary and in a resource capacity. 

8.           The BRC shall seek input and public feedback on boundary configuration options, and shall hold a minimum of two public meetings. 

a.         The BRC shall ensure that a wide range of school and community groups are consulted, such as school councils, parents/guardians, school staff/administration, students of secondary schools, and the local community. 

b.         The public consultation period shall be a minimum of 30 days after the Board has approved and announced a boundary review. 

c.         Extended school holidays such as spring and summer break, Easter and Christmas, shall not be considered part of the minimum 30 day public consultation period. 

9.         Key administrative staff shall be made available throughout the consultative process to provide the necessary expertise and resources. This will include staff from the Planning and Facilities Superintendency. 

10.       The BRC shall ensure that all information relevant to the fixed attendance boundary study is made public and available in advance of public consultations, both electronically and in print form. 

11.       The BRC shall be provided with all relevant data in the possession of the Board in order to carry out its mandate, including the following: 

a.                   Maps of the area

b.                  Current enrolment data and demographic projections by program

c.                   Information on transportation

d.                  School profile data, including capacities for each school under study 

12.       The BRC shall ensure that all information that is technical in nature be provided and explained in plain language. 

13.        The BRC shall keep detailed minutes reflecting the full range of boundary options expressed at public meeting(s) and shall make these minutes available to the public. 

14.        The BRC shall ensure that there is a process in place to respond to questions raised at the meeting(s) which could not be answered at the meeting(s). 

15.        A full transportation modeling study shall be undertaken by the Board to determine the impacts of a fixed attendance boundary on schools and students, and to determine associated costs to the Board. The results of the study will be provided to the BRC. 

16.       Board staff shall prepare boundary configuration options for consideration by the BRC. These will be provided to members of the BRC prior to the first public meeting. 

17.       The BRC shall prepare a report detailing their preferred boundary configuration option(s) and submit to the Director of Education for review, and make the completed report available to the public. The BRC report must take the following into consideration: 

a.         Fixed attendance boundaries must be designed to follow logical and easily identifiable routes and/or physical landforms where possible, such as major roads, rail-lines, watercourses, parklands, ravines, and established political boundaries. 

b.         Fixed attendance boundaries must be constructed in such a fashion that schools affected by the imposition of a nearby fixed attendance boundary benefit to the fullest extent possible, both in terms of maximizing student enrolment and utilization of available classroom space. 

c.          Program offerings (e.g. French Immersion, Gifted, etc.) must be taken into consideration when developing boundaries, and as such, there could be more than one boundary associated with any given school(s) under review. 

18.        After receiving the BRC’s report and boundary recommendations, the Director of Education shall prepare a report for consideration by the Board in public session at a regularly scheduled meeting, regarding the BRC’s recommendations, as well as staff comments and recommendations. 

19.       The Director of Education’s report shall be made publicly available and posted on the Board’s website in advance of the Board meeting at which it is to be considered. 

20.       Opportunity for public input regarding the BRC’s report and the Director of Education’s report shall be provided at a subsequent meeting of the Board, which will hear and receive delegations as well as consider written submissions. 

21.       The Director of Education shall prepare a further report for consideration by the Board in public session, regarding and responding to public input received and representations made at the previous Board meeting. 

22.       The Board shall make a decision regarding the school(s) under boundary review at a regularly scheduled meeting and shall notify the school community(ies) in writing of the Board’s decision, and shall have the decision posted on the Board’s website. 

23.        Any Board decision to implement a fixed attendance boundary shall be planned for and implemented for the following school year. 

24.        A student must have primary residence within the established fixed attendance boundary to qualify for admission to the school. All other students outside the fixed attendance boundary may apply to be placed on a wait list, and may be granted admission at the discretion of the Board where space permits. 

25.        If requests exceed available space, wait listed students will be admitted based on date of wait list application, subject to the following admissions priorities: 

Priority 1:        Students attending licensed childcare, including licensed home childcare, within the fixed attendance boundary of the requested school. 

Priority 2:        Students receiving childcare with the fixed attendance boundary of the requested school. 

Priority 3:        Students resident in the City of Toronto. 

Priority 4:        Students resident outside the City of Toronto (e.g. 905 area code). 

            No transportation will be provided to students admitted from wait lists. 

26.        Students who have siblings already in the requested school and expected to be in the school for the next school year shall gain admission.